Tennessee
by Life is Like a Novel
Summary: When Sam tells Kurt he loves him, Kurt runs away only to realize later  that night that he's just made one of the worst mistakes in his seventeen years.


**Title: **Tennessee

**Pairings/Characters: **Sam/Kurt

**Genre: **Romance

**Warnings: **Fluffiness ahead

**Timeline: **Season two or after

**Spoilers: **None, doesn't really mention events of the show.

**Word Count: **1,880

**Date/Time: **052811/02:25

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing you recognize. The characters belong to Ryan Murphy and the song belongs to Sugarland. (I've been listening to them a lot the past couple of days.)

**Author's Note: **Song selected by pressing the shuffle button on iTunes. No this was not written in the time span of the song. Some lyrics were changed (mostly pronouns) to make it work better.

"Cedes' I need your help," Kurt told his girl over the phone one Friday night. He tried to keep the sniffle inaudible, but Mercedes sigh of, "Oh Boo, what's wrong," let him know that she had heard it. "I messed up big time Mercy. I pushed Sam away. I didn't mean to, well, I did, but I didn't want to. It's just scary. I'm not used to any of this and I just...it was easier when I wasn't in a relationship. I'm no good at this."

"Calm down Baby Boy," Mercedes told him on the other end of the phone. "Sam is not like any of the other jocks. Now you need to tell me what happened."

"He told me he loved me," Kurt told her with a sigh...

"_Kurt," Sam whispered as Kurt leaned back against his chest while they watched a re-run of Doctor Who. After hours of trying, Sam had finally convinced his boyfriend of four months to watch the sci-fi show that he was so obsessed with. Kurt was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed the show and the two were making it through the newer seasons slowly but surely. Kurt liked the really liked the ninth Doctor, but there was something about Ten that he just loved. It might have been the glasses..._

"_Mm," Kurt mumbled back, not taking his eyes away from the screen. It was the last ten minutes of the episode and he was therefore weary of pulling his attention away in fear of missing something important. It had happened to him on several occasions and then he was left asking Sam for an explanation, because the blond had already seen all of the episodes to date. _

"_I love you, Kurt," Sam told him, kissing his cheek. With a gasp, the countertenor sat up and turned so that he was looking at the jock in confusion. He opened his mouth only to close it again, repeating this action for a couple of times before he finally just closed his mouth and continued to stare at the other boy. _

_Sam panicked at the silence from his boyfriend. He thought about taking it back, just telling Kurt that he didn't mean it like I _love _you but like you just gave me that last chip I love you, but realized he didn't want to. He wanted the other boy to know how he felt. He needed him to know. He also needed to know if his feelings were returned. "Kurt, do you love me back?" he asked hesitantly. _

_His words pulled Kurt out of his shock. "I'm sorry, Sam," Kurt told him, standing up and grabbing his coat and bag. "I have to go." He headed to the door. Sam tried to call him back, but the Cheerio was already gone. _

"So you just left?" Mercedes asked him shocked.

"I didn't know what to do Merc. I've never told anyone I loved them before. Hell, I've never loved anyone before, not like this."

"So do what you do best, Boo. Sing," Mercedes told him. "In fact, I have the perfect song..." Kurt could practically hear her grin over the phone.

Kurt packed his things up slower than usual on Monday morning. He wanted to stay after to talk to Mr. Shue about singing during Glee club. Usually he would just ask at the beginning of the meeting but he knew that they were planning to go over the set list and he was afraid that if there were no heads up, Shue wouldn't let him...or rather, Rachel wouldn't let him. "Mr. Shue," Kurt called, going over to the teacher's desk.

"What's up, Kurt?" Will asked, looking up from the papers he was grading to his student. "Is everything okay."

"Fine, Mr. Shue. I just have something that I want to perform today before we start working on the set list or at the end of class. It's important."

"That's fine Kurt. I always encourage you kids to express yourself through music. Why don't you sing before we get started? That way if it takes longer than planned, which it most likely will, you'd have already gone. That sound good?"

"Yes, thanks Mr. Shue," Kurt smiled with a sigh of relief. He didn't think that his teacher would have denied him the chance; it was just nice to know that he didn't have to worry about that part of the plan anymore.

"No problem," Will smiled back. "And Kurt," he called when the boy turned to leave for his next class. "Good luck."

As Kurt made his way to his next class, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text message to Finn and Puck reminding them not to skip Glee and thanking them yet again. He doubted that they two boys would actually skip, but he never knew when it came to Puck, no one ever did. Once he got a response from both, a _Chill out, Hummel _from Puck and _sur thng kurt _from Finn. He muttered a soft apology to his teacher for being late before going to his seat and taking out his notes, trying to keep himself from worrying about Sam's reaction. There were still four periods left and he was sure he wouldn't be able to make it that long if he was panicking the entire time.

"Alright, regroup" Will said, clapping his hands once before rubbing them together to gain the students attention at the front of the room. "Before we get started with working on the set list, Kurt has something that he would like to sing for us. So Kurt, why don't you come on up."

Mercedes gave his knee a squeeze paired off with an encouraging smile before he got up and made his way to the center of the room, followed closely by Finn and Puck. Kurt made sure the boys were in place before he took a deep breath and spoke. "I made a mistake the other day, possibly one of the worst I've ever made and I hurt you Sam, but I hope this makes up for it. Mercedes helped with the song selection. We both know how much you love Sugarland." He turned to the boys and nodded once, giving them their cue to start playing.

Kurt looked over to Sam with an apologetic smile on his face as he began to sing,

_It ain't often I take time to answer calls on the request line,_

_But this one says that we're his best last chance._

_So all you people in radio land, turn it up loud, loud as you can_

_Help to carry these words of a desperate man._

_Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?_

_Two words can free us, so repeat them after me._

_"I do," from a boy in love to a guy from Tennessee_

Sam smiled up at him with a little nod, clearing like the song selection and the modified lyrics, causing Kurt to sing with even more enthusiasm and Mercedes to grin up at him in approval. While Kurt had shifted his gaze throughout the first verse, he kept his eyes fixed on Sam for the next.

_It's always scary when you find true love_

_Hits like lightning from high above_

_You might only get one chance to say_

_Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?_

_Two words can free us, so repeat them after me._

"_I do," from a boy in love to a guy from Tennessee. _

_He got scared and let him slip away_

_Now he knows he's not afraid_

_I'll put him on the air in case he's listening somewhere_

Kurt nodded to Mercedes, who smiles and started to sing with him, their voices complementing not only each other's, but the song nicely as well.

_So take it to heart, keep it in mind_

_Try to reach out through the telephone line_

_Caller you're on the air, say it so he hears_

_Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?_

_Two words can free us, so repeat them after me. _

"_I do," from a boy in love in to a guy from Tennessee. _

_Oh Oh, from a boy in love to a guy from Tennessee. _

The countertenor went over to the blond, leaving his best friend to belt out the final 'Tennessee', knowing that she could end it better anyway. The rest of the class applauded loudly and Will mentioned the potential of adding it to the set list, with some adjustments of course. Kurt however was ignoring them all (including Puck's shout of 'get some') in favor of trying to read Sam's expression which was now blank, even though he had been smiling through the entire song.

"Mr. Shue, can we be excused if we don't want to work on the set list?" Sam asked turning his attention to the teacher, a fact that confused the class and left Kurt on the brink of tears. Usually if anyone apologized or confessed or really did anything to song within the club it was rewarded with a mini make out session that left the other members awkwardly trying to look away or start up little conversations to give the two privacy.

Sam made his way towards the door after Will's soft reply of 'yeah sure' but stopped when he noticed that Kurt was wrapped up in Mercedes arm, fighting back the tears, but only just. Sam could tell because of the way he was biting the side of his lip. He then cursed mentally cursed himself realizing that from Kurt's perspective he was turning him down when he really just wanted to get away from the rest of New Directions. He refused to pull a Finnchel and start making out in the middle of club. It just wasn't right. So, he made his way over to the brunet Cheerio, took his hand, and led him out of the room, being sure to close the door tightly behind them.

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Kurt immediately began to gush out as soon as he realized that Sam didn't actually hate him. "I'm new to all of this. I've never had a boyfriend and I've certainly never been in love with anyone, not really. When you told me that you loved me the other day, I freaked out. I was afraid that I was dreaming for a few moments. I just...I"m so, so sorry, Sam. You can't even begin to imagine how bad that I feel that I hurt you. I just wan-"

"Kurt," Sam cut him off, placing a finger to his lips to silence him further. "Do you love me?"

"I do," Kurt nodded. "I love you Sam, so much that it scares me."

Sam grinned and leaned forward to pull his boyfriend- the boy he loved and that loved him back- into a kiss, his hands finding their way to the countertenor's waist to pull him closely, almost on their own accord. "Say it again?" he asked, pulling back and cupping his face. "Please."

Kurt chuckled and placed soft kisses to his cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, and neck, each kiss paired off with an 'I love you.'

**So there we have it. The ending isn't really how I pictured it and I'm still trying to decide if I like the end or not. I liked the general idea... Okay I'm going to stop rambling. Please tell me what you thought. Special thanks to the amazing Jalander AKA Tabby for being an amazing beta. **


End file.
